more from Plato

Single Idea 16125

[catalogued under 2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition]

Full Idea

Let's take the kind posited and cut it in two, .then follow the righthand part of what we've cut, and hold onto things that the sophist is associated with until we strip away everything he has in common with other things, then display his peculiar nature.

Gist of Idea

To reveal a nature, divide down, and strip away what it has in common with other things

Source

Plato (The Statesman [c.356 BCE], 264e)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.289


A Reaction

This seems to be close to Aristotle's account of definition, when he is trying to get at what-it-is-to-be some thing. But if you strip away everything the definiendum has in common with other things, will anything remain?